Crestview, Florida Comments

"I Absolutely HATE This Small Country Town"

I Absolutely HATE This Small Country Town - 10/29/2011

3

9

Antionette

I just moved here and I absolutely hate this town! They only have 3 main grocery stores: Publix, Winn-Dixie, and Walmart. Publix and Winn-Dixie are some of the most overpriced grocery stores I've seen. Being in Florida for the first time in my life, I thought it would be awesome with palm trees and whatnots, NOPE!! Looks just like Alabama up the road. I have meet quite a few nice people, but some of the rednecks kind of outweigh the niceness of some of the people I have meet. It is not a culturally diverse place and they only have 1 high school in this town. I have noticed an abundance of Baptist churches here, and I am UMC and only found 1 in another town near by. This is a very "hilly" town and you would need a good truck or SUV to really make it. The post office here is a joke. They are rude and inconsiderate. It's a wonder where the term "going postal" came from, is from people like this. The climate is fine and to be expected. I think you would enjoy this town most if you are: Baptist, retiring, a home body, your skin tone is lighter than Michael Jackson, at the time of death or enjoy the small country/rural life. Downtown looks rather run down and old. It is really small, and if you blink you would miss it. I've been downtown nearly everyday and never realized that is what was considered downtown. Moving from the 3rd largest city in the U.S.; makes this place looks like a speck on the map.

I just relocated to Crestview. Been a very big roller coaster ride for me but all in all not a bad place. My 1st mistake is I rented a house site unseen. once I got down here it was in a older area north of the city outside the city limits. Run down but not unsafe... I had a major encounter with Palmetta bugs and vacated the home, the landlord was nice enough to refund me the money...... Then the hard stuff bagan. A search for a new home to live in.. found older run down houses mixed in with beautiful new houses all over the city, the range of prices for rentals was all over the place.... RENTER BEWARE... seems to be a lot of SLUM LORDS.... If you take your time you will find the perfect home for the perfect price. stay south of 10 for nicest places. BEST PLACE because it is closer to beaches and away from the nightmare traffic north of RT 10.... Also be careful with speed and watch the speed limit signs, they jump up and down drastically on the same stretches of roads and the cops love that!!! city of crestview, okaloosa county,state troopers, and Military Police all over the place. yes MP's can and will pull you over especially south on rt85 because you are going thru the heart of Elgin AFB.

I just moved here and I absolutely hate this town! They only have 3 main grocery stores: Publix, Winn-Dixie, and Walmart. Publix and Winn-Dixie are some of the most overpriced grocery stores I've seen. Being in Florida for the first time in my life, I thought it would be awesome with palm trees and whatnots, NOPE!! Looks just like Alabama up the road. I have meet quite a few nice people, but some of the rednecks kind of outweigh the niceness of some of the people I have meet. It is not a culturally diverse place and they only have 1 high school in this town. I have noticed an abundance of Baptist churches here, and I am UMC and only found 1 in another town near by. This is a very "hilly" town and you would need a good truck or SUV to really make it. The post office here is a joke. They are rude and inconsiderate. It's a wonder where the term "going postal" came from, is from people like this. The climate is fine and to be expected. I think you would enjoy this town most if you are: Baptist, retiring, a home body, your skin tone is lighter than Michael Jackson, at the time of death or enjoy the small country/rural life. Downtown looks rather run down and old. It is really small, and if you blink you would miss it. I've been downtown nearly everyday and never realized that is what was considered downtown. Moving from the 3rd largest city in the U.S.; makes this place looks like a speck on the map.

I actually read a review of Crestview that was from 2008. Though my family has yet to finalize our plan for relocation to the quaint city of Crestview, it is in motion and we are all very excited. We have visited several times in the past few months to be certain that it was the right choice for our family. We absolutely love it. The review I read was written by a lady from PA. I found it offensive and a total misrepresentation of the town. She all but called the people of Crestview dumb rednecks. She stated that the people were unfriendly due to her being Catholic. I once had family living in Crestview, therefore, I had visited several times before my recent decision to relocate there. Not once during any of my 12-15 visits to Crestview did anyone ever ask me if I were Baptist or anything of that nature. I do recall entering into a convenience store and asking for assistance from the clerks and other locals. They were always helpful and within a few moments they shared an abundance of useful info concerning employment opportunities, schools, crime, housing, etc. It was not dumb rednecks who offered up such information, but people of all backgrounds and educational levels who had been taught what is referred to as Southern Hospitality. It is one of our most honorable traits. I have lived in South Georgia all of my life and have honestly never felt more welcomed than I did during my visits at Crestview. It is true that the town itself is not abundant in "cultural" activities, however, from what I have seen the residential areas have a sense of safety and peacefulness. The surrounding towns offer culture and recreation. This is ideal for many who are looking to raise a family. There are many parks and play areas for small children. For those interested in furthering their education, Niceville, has a 2-4 yr college (Northwestern Florida State College). I speak only as someone who has thoroughly researched this area and my opinions were only voiced here because I took great offense to the post which referred to the people of Crestview as rednecks and spoke of how she had no one to speak intellectually to. The people of Crestview in general did not appear dumb or uneducated, nor were they in anyway disrespectful of my religious beliefs or practices. In fact, religion was never a topic of discussion. Crestview is a city and like all cities, there are many different types of people. The post I have spoken of had painted a mental image of backwoods, ignorant hillbillies and that is just not so. There are a lot of amazing and generous people and I am very much looking forward to the move.

I have a comment. We are all having a hard time finding jobs like my son who is an honest and hard working young man and who got layed off because of the hiring of illegals by his company. Why are we not helping our own US citizen and hiring them. I have seen young and old people turn to dishonesty and drugs because of being pushed aside and losing their jobs. This is causing many family problems and weaking our back bone for a united nation. Sandy

Moved to Crestview and ever since have regretted it. I think it is not a good place to raise children at all. The schools have one budget cut after another. The beaches are about 45 minutes south so that is the only good thing, but the traffic is always congested it seems and there are no 'good' restaurants in the area and really 'nothing' to do. If I could do it all over again, I would of never moved here and it is the biggest regret I have so far in life is moving here to raise my children. I wish we would of chosen an area with more beauty of some sort and a more family friendly area with more recreation to do as a family.

My husband and I moved to Crestview, FL from Pittsburgh, PA just over five years ago. We found that there is precious little to do in Crestview. It's called the "Hub City" because of the intersection of I 10 and routes 85 and 90. So there are lots of hotels, restaurants, and traveler services, but slim pickin's for anyone looking for culture or recreational opportunities. The closest place for theatre is at the local college in Niceville. Anything fun is about 45 min to an hour away. The pro of the area is the absolutely gorgeous beaches in the Gulf of Mexico are within an hours drive. You just can't get to them during tourist season, and few people can afford to live there. Most of the locals are big time country and Baptists. When our neighbors found out we were Catholic, we were pretty much shunned. Thank God for the military presence here. At least you can carry on an intelligent conversation with someone you can understand without the redneck drawl. We enjoyed hiking and canoeing in PA, but with all the poisonous bugs, snakes, spiders and assorted other "critters" around here, along with the high heat and humidity most of the year, it's just not a relaxing hobby for us here. We're looking at moving back North somewhere above the Mason-Dixon line as soon as we can.